According to Scandinavian
studies, typical bullies are likely to be as popular, or
almost as popular, as their peers. It was also found that
they were often surrounded by two or three friends who would
support them and who liked them. However, their popularity
decreases with age and by about 16 years it is much lower
than the average. Even so the popularity of the bully does
not fall to the low level of the victim..........................................

Article
details

D Olweus (1993) 'Bullying
at School: what we know and what we can do', Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers Limited. Click the book image to buy it online
and read some excerpts..........................................

Author details

Professor Dan Olweus
was the first person to carry out a thorough research project
on bullying.
This large, long term study which began in Sweden in 1970,
was to provide the inspiration for many who felt that bullying
in schools should be challenged rather than accepted. Since
the 1970s, his work in this area had continued with force.
Indeed, in 1997-99, he led a group in a large project which
introduced the widely respected Olweus (anti-bullying) programme
to schools in Norway. Professor Olweus is based at the Research
Centre for Health Promotion, University of Bergen in Norway
and can be contacted by email.

Over 150 children
were asked to describe their peers in certain ways. One
of the things covered was how popular they felt their peers
to be. It was found that those pupils described by their
peers as bullies and victims were more likely than other
children to be described as rejected. It was also found
that the children described as bullies or victims were less
likely than other children to be described as popular. .........................................

Professor Peter K
Smith is Head of the Unit for School and Family Studies,
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, London. He
has been involved in bullying research for a number of years
and has published widely on this topic.

Peter Smith may be
contacted by email,
and the website of the Unit for School and Family Studies
at Goldsmiths College may be found
here.

Dr
Michael Boulton is a lecturer in Social and Developmental
Psychology at Keele University, England. He has published
many papers on children's social relationships, particularly
on friendship and bullying/aggression.

Information gathered
from primary and secondary schoolchildren in The Netherlands
revealed a strong link between being a bully or a victim
and being disliked. In contrast, peers who fell into the
group of children described as being 'sympathetic', were
often very popular..........................................